Dubstepforum.com

Not really posted here in a while but thought I'd ask this as I'm starting to think about this subject a lot but have no idea where to start.

Basically I'm looking to find ways to make more time to make music in the week, for example I've recently moved to a job that has less hours (with more pay! ) I've cut down going to the gym from 3-4 times a week to 2 times. I've started even thinking in terms of what foods can I eat that will A. cost less to give me more money to spend on Dj'ing, equipment etc + B. will take both less time to prepare and less time to eat.

What I'm asking is what lifestyle changes do you either make or are looking to make that help further your musicianship? Are there people that have cut down their internet usage (and want to give me advice on how to go about it! ) Are there any things you can think of that has either given you more time to write music or made your writing time more effective which allows you to be more productive?

If you believe I am over-thinking this then that's cool just click on another thread. For anyone who has thought about this before feel free to ask questions or give advice on the matter if you have any tips on achieving more in this hectic modern lifestyle most of us live!

a step iv been wanting to take but not quite gone for it yet, is have no internet on your production pc/mac. itll do wonders both for your production time and your computer.

When I make my songs I stay off the internet, though it's on my production laptop.

give yourself deadlines-- get used to working like that, before you wind up HAVING to work like that.

Sharmaji wrote:give yourself deadlines-- get used to working like that, before you wind up HAVING to work like that.

Definitely something that's been helping me lately

lowpass wrote: What I'm asking is what lifestyle changes do you either make or are looking to make that help further your musicianship? Are there people that have cut down their internet usage (and want to give me advice on how to go about it! ) Are there any things you can think of that has either given you more time to write music or made your writing time more effective which allows you to be more productive?

When I was on the dole (welfare), my house was robbed and they took all my gear except my speakers, which wouldnt fit through the window. I spunked my savings on a Mac Mini for college but the rest of the gear I got through that year I could afford because I lived on a diet of Asda Noodles. It probably wasn't the healthiest thing, but if I'm spending £2.50 a week on food then I have a helluva lot more money out of your £50 to spend on a keyboard and so on, real talk. Not to mention it takes 20sec to boil the water and 2min in the mircowave to make.

(Obviously you work so you don't have to go to this extreme, but food can be the thing you waste the most money and time on.)

+3 for deadlines. Has done wonders for me. Also, getting up earlier when you can. I always set my phone to wake me up a couple hours before I HAVE to get up to get reading for work. Admittedly about half the time I go back to sleep. But not always. I didn't think that squeezing an hour or two in here and there would help me because I've traditionally only worked in big chunks when I have no interruptions for 4-8 hours or something. But honestly, knowing that I only have about 30 minutes to wake up and about an hour to work has really helped me make quick, judicial decisions on sound design, composition, mixing, beat programming, chord/melody writing...everything basically.

I also find when I have too much free time I waste more of it on internet, Netflix, enjoying a spliff, bars and scratch off tickets than I do on producing. So keeping just the right amount of busy is important to me.

I recently gave myself a deadline of Oct 31. to finish a four song EP and now, not half way through October, I feel like I've given myself way too much time. Not that the tunes couldn't be better, but that's a matter of my current skill level

I really need to make more time for music. School has been taking over my life lately I think I've only worked on tunes for like 2 hours the past week.

tbh, it seems that when I cram my timetable most and make the least time for music that I write the most. When I was unemployed a while back I had all day everyday to sit around and write tunes and i wrote fuck all because the lack of a structured day just breeds laziness and inactivity. When I crammed my timetable with full time work, night classes, a girlfriend, exercise and 2 dogs I found that while I had less time I using it all damn near 100% effectively. I think it just comes down to that, using what little time you have effectively. 5 minutes is a lot of time if you use it right.

handle your responsibilities. then you can be worry-free when you work on your music.

I recently set a goal for myself - One finished tune / week

To-do lists also help me manage my time and help me not forget the loads of important things I have to get done.

and what Sharmaji said...

impose deadlines on your production and do your best to meet them on time

Years of living as a student then being on the dole have forced me to become the master of stingy living. Here's my tips.

- I go for good sources of high carbs for longer lasting energy.
- I go for fruit and salads for speedy vitamins & minerals.
- Sometimes I cook veg on a slow heat so I can do other thigns while they prepare.

Top speedy things to eat.

Carbs:

- Bowl of cereal (oat flakes are healthy, been eating them as the main staple of my diet since I was born)
- Toast (with or without mashed banana and cinamon)
- Pasta (Buy the largest bag you can from your local cash & carry, usually £10 - £15 for 10kg.) Cook up 3 days worth at once and save the rest in the fridge so you can reheat it or eat it cold inside of 1 minute)
- Rice (same as pasta above)
- Chips (but only quick if you live within 2 minutes walk of the chippy)


Vitamins & minerals:

Apples
Bananas
Pre plucked grapes
Pre mixed salads
Tinned fruit


Protien & Fat:

Nuts (like pasta, buy 'em in buk and store in sealed containers)
Eggs
Bacon
Sausages
Cheese
Milk
Yogurt
Tinned beans (all varieties, not just baked beans [which are only butter beans in tomato sauce anyway]). Buy in crates of 24 tins.
Lentils (buy in bulk and cook 3 days worth per cooking session)


Shopping Tips:

I buy loads of food from my local cash & carry. I get huge packs of everything that last me up to three months. Fresh food and dairy products always comes from the local supermarkets which vary their prices according to item, season and special promotions.

- Buy the largest pack of the item you're buying. It will cost less in the long run and you'll be certain to go through it eventually unless it spoils quickly.

- Look out for regular special offers on milk & cheese in several local supermarkets, that way you always can buy the cheapest on offer.

- Buy eggs in the largest packs you can find, minimum of 12 but often available in boxes of 15 or 18, or trays of 24 or 36 from the local green grocers or butchers.

- Cheap supermarkets = Lidl, Aldi, Iceland & Netto lol, get acquainted.

- Avoid Marks & Spencers, Waitrose & Sainsbury's like the plague as they are well expensive.

- Never buy from corner shops or small minimarkets either as they are almost always more expensive than large suiperstores and cash & carries. Cheap supermarkets = Asda's, Morrisons & Tescos.

- Drink more water and less expensive stuff like juice, milk, wine, beer & spirits. Proper juice (Tropicana) simply costs too much.

- Avoid brand names unless you cannot tolerate the cheaper varieties (especially true for breakfast cereals and baked beans). Who cares whether you use Percil or own brand water pollutant to launder your clothes eh??

- Don't eat food from take-aways and fast food joints (especially McDonalds & shitty Fried Chicken places etc). Despite the shite shite shite quality of food they'll serve, it simply doesn't represent value compared to bread, pasta and beans etc.

- Let's repeat the last one for clarity. Avoid fucking take-aways and Crap Fried Chicken places..... They serve shit food which costs more than baked beans on toast and tuna sandwiches..... (So many people think Bugger King does good deals )

- Buy some decent storage containers so that you can prepare several days worth of food per cooking session. That way, you can have healthy food and still only spend 5 minutes preparing it as you reach into the fridge and shove stuff into the microwave.

- Invest in enough cooking utensils, pots & pans etc to make bulk healthy cooking easy, e.g. big pots, decent knives and chopping boards etc.

- Meat & fish cost more than dried foods and vegetables because it costs more to raise cattle, breed fish and pay for the refrigeration.

- Ready meals also cost more on average because of the processing involved in the preparation. Avoid like the plague, if only so yuou have control of what chemicals are going into your body. (Especially true if you're into fitness pursuits too).

- Weed & cigs cost more thna you think. Quitting is easier than you think if you actually want to quit (rather than the bullshit 'yeah, I'm trying to quit lol' that most smokers blabber).

Er yeah, excuse the spelling mistakes lol.

Others have mentioned effecient time planning. I created a time table that works for me that I use as the basis of my event planning. I don't stick to it rigourously, but it does help guide my decisions about what I should be doing when at any given period of the day on any given day of the week.

Keep a note pad to write down everyhting you need or want to do. Go through the list regularly and make a sub list any time you have enough similar items to warrant giving it special attention, e.g errand trips to the local shops, or internet research time etc.

kaiori breathe wrote:tbh, it seems that when I cram my timetable most and make the least time for music that I write the most. When I was unemployed a while back I had all day everyday to sit around and write tunes and i wrote fuck all because the lack of a structured day just breeds laziness and inactivity. When I crammed my timetable with full time work, night classes, a girlfriend, exercise and 2 dogs I found that while I had less time I using it all damn near 100% effectively. I think it just comes down to that, using what little time you have effectively. 5 minutes is a lot of time if you use it right.

so true. I just had semester break and almost didn't complete anything. I also find less time more inspiring for some reason.

Use templates and save all of ur patches and loops.experiment when u have time for playing.

Before I recently lost my job, I was working 9-10 hours a day with 2-3 hours traveling so I had really facking long days (on my feet too) and recently got my misses to move in with me so when I got home at night it was literally - get home > put on kettle > make tea > spend hour/two with the mrs > go upstairs turn my computer on > sort out bed > get on computer > yawn > go back to bed and sleep.

On the weekends i'd be to tired to sit on the computer/go out for the day with the mrs... I hardly made anything, a tune a month if I was lucky!

I started to go to bed as soon as I got home (after spending a bit of time with the mrs/eating/chillin') which was about 7 or 8ish and wake up around 3/4am, getting a healthy nights sleep and having till 6/7am to make tunes was a big help. Not only is it the most creative time of the day (early hours are the best and no one can deny it!) you can't dwell on things for hours and are more inclined to not slack or get distracted by the internet.

I touched up mixes on the weekend on the monitors and keeping my routine I would be up at the crack of dawn to prepare myself ready to mix by the time it was appropriate to play music out of the headphones, so it'll hit about 10:30 in the morning and i'd just turn up my monitors, click the FL icon and press play! No fuffing about.

Going on what Futures said about the pre-making meals and storing em on the fridge! Loading up the tune you want to work on before you go to bed then putting it on hybination/keeping your computer on so when you wake up everything is there and ready is a real help.. Spesh those times where you're laying in bed thinking "I don't want to get out of bed, wait for my computer to turn on, wait for the coffee machine to finish brewing, i'll just sleep till I need to get up" I tended to get up straight away mash with the tune for about 10 minutes and then start my morning after a good headphone wake up! I was much chirpier as a person in general due to this routine too - spesh at work!

Yeah, its a bit wordy and not as clear as I want to say it but I woke up still a bit drunk so ...

Eat noodles, sell weed.

get your missus to start uni, been a big help.
alot more me time.

I dealt with this for over 5 years. I found a job that I can work my own hours, and got a laptop. I now live on a porch while I save for my .lock out so I can start my studio and never look back
Sacrifice homeboy. The world won't make time for you,if you are serious and nothing else matters make it happen.

@futures_untold: seems like you spend half your time posting on this forum

I actually decided to stop my bachelors in planning (city scaping stuff). I'm doing a bachelors
in music technology next year. Probably not where the money is, but I don't think I'll enjoy other courses.